Could you imagine seeing the site of Oil Rigs off the coast of Santa Monica, Malibu, or Hermosa Beach? Bush asked Congress today for approval for offshore oil drilling. I am just as depressed as every Angeleno with the nearly $5/gal gas prices, but I still can not picture sitting on the beach and staring off to a beautiful So Cal sunset with burning tower and plumes of smoke coming off a platform of an oil rig. In reality I have no idea the details of this, maybe they will be miles off the coast where no one could see them. But the whole idea is scary as the news keeps talking about the huge environmental disaster that was the Santa Barbara Oil spill of 1969. Kind of scary since tourism is such a big revenue generator for the state and we have spent million in tax dollars trying to keep the beaches clean. Our economy revolves around Hollywood and the Beach, could you imagine loosing that kind of tourist revenue, hell California is hurting enough anyway! AHHH, we’re all doomed. 
on Jul 2nd, 2008
Another point of contention is that ~66% of the land leases that oil companies are already currently sitting on are not being used. Why open up even more land, whether it be off the coast of Malibu or all the way up in ANWR, when the majority of the land they already have been given the OK to fuck up is just sitting there? This is quite blatantly an end-of-term land grab by the government’s “oil buddies” before the possibility of them not having (as much of) a tool in the White House.